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U.S.A. and NATO as a whole, have lost the ability to conduct presently ongoing world crises, I could not guarantee suc- regular warfare. The chief reason is economic. As in “Desert cess, but I am the only figure who might have a chance Storm,” and as is shown in the resumed war on Iraq, and of success. the recent war against Yugoslavia, NATO is not capable of fighting war to win with military force on the ground. The very adoption of the lunacy of “Air-Land Battle 2000” by the U.S.A. attests less to what the U.S. military forces can do, Yeltsin coup in Russia than what they have lost the capability of doing. In the war against Yugoslavia, NATO did not fight war; increases war danger indeed, both NATO and the President of the U.S.A. insisted, that this was a punishment expedition, not an actual war. What by Konstantin George NATO’s bombing attacks did, was to destroy the economy of most of the nations bordering the Danube east of Vienna. Once the British monarchy prevailed upon President Clinton On the morning of Aug. 9, Russian President to abandon the reconstruction perspective he had announced issued a decree, firing Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin and earlier, that entire region of southeastern Europe has been dismissing the cabinet. In a statement from the Presidential transformed into a bloody mass of attrition which will soon Press Office, as carried by Itar-TASS, Yeltsin named Vladi- destroy, chain-reaction style, the entire economy of both mir Putin, who has been head of the Federal Security Service northern and western Europe. (FSB, the successor of the domestic KGB) since July 1998, To assess the larger strategic realities in which the Blair- as Acting Prime Minister. The appointment of Putin was a driven search for nuclear confrontation with Russia is situ- transparent coup by the Yeltsin family and its friends among ated, the war-threat becomes more immediately ominous than Russian financial oligarchs and the allied Western financial would be implied by the facts I have referenced thus far. We oligarchy, intended to thwart the orderly constitutional transi- must take into account the strategic military implications of tion of Russia to the post-Yeltsin era through State Duma the presently onrushing meltdown of the world’s financial (lower house of Parliament) elections on Dec. 19, and Presi- system, including that of the U.S. economy. dential elections six months later. Significantly, the British state apparatus (representing a The events which rocked Moscow mirror similar moves much higher level than lackey Tony Blair) has announced a toward extra-constitutional political shifts, or coups, being special security program, named “Operation Surety,” to go taken by the British oligarchy at home. Calculating from the into effect, beginning September 9, 1999. This operation is standpoint of a post-financial-crash world, these oligarchical designed to anticipate a deadly social crisis’s eruption under circles are positioning themselves to assure absolute power, the conditions of the world financial meltdown expected for through emergency measures, like those contemplated in the interval between September 9, 1999 and the close of the “Operation Surety,” a plan for military rule inside the United year. No one I know—and I do have many high-level sources Kingdom itself. in various parts of the world—can give me a definite date, Putin’s closest ties are to former Prime Minister Viktor other than “soon, perhaps next week, perhaps October,” for Chernomyrdin, the notorious Russian cohort of U.S. Vice the expected date of the chain-reaction collapse of the world’s President Al Gore, the City of London crowd, and British- financial system. However, that kind of collapse, of a kind allied financial interests on the European continent—whose far worse than October 1929, is already onrushing; it is not perspective is to weaken Russia for coming decades, while something which could happen; it is something which, in fact, they exploit its raw materials and run the country as a Third is already happening. World colony—and Anatoli Chubais, the most notorious In- The intervention of the effects of this world financial col- ternational Monetary Fund henchman of post-Soviet Russia. lapse into the present strategic situation, automatically and These connections are lawful, because the coup is a brazen immediately changes all of the determining parameters of the attempt to keep the IMF comprador layer in place at all costs. worldwide strategic situation. No existing government could last long enough to carry out a pro-warfare posture effectively ‘He thanked me—and fired me’ under such circumstances. The dismissal came right after a morning meeting in the Notable is the situation in Russia itself. Whatever else Kremlin between Yeltsin and Stepashin, who had just re- may happen there, and there are many possibilities, virtually turned from Dagestan. He had been sent to that Caucasus all extremely dramatic ones, the present situation in Russia republic over the weekend by Yeltsin, ostensibly because of is not to be expected to last past the end of September, if the escalating crisis there. that long. The news of Stepashin’s ouster broke shortly after 8 a.m. Were I President of the U.S.A., I would know how to Central European Time (10 a.m. Moscow time). Russian TV deal with this mess. Given the very advanced state of sundry showed a somber-faced Stepashin addressing his outgoing

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© 1999 EIR News Service Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission strictly prohibited. cabinet as follows: “This morning I visited the President and State Duma. They will take place on Dec. 19. Exactly on he signed a decree on my resignation. He thanked me—and schedule as it is provided for by the Constitution and the law.” fired me.” Confirming that he was angry over his dismissal, Then, Yeltsin proclaimed that Putin is his choice to succeed Stepashin said: “I expressed my position concerning the resig- him as President of Russia: “Next year, for the first time in nation to Boris Nikolayevich, but, this is his right. I told the the country’s history, the first President of Russia will hand President that I have been, am, and will remain with him until over power to a newly elected President. Whatever the case, the end.” he will be your President, esteemed citizens of Russia, who Stepashin’s dismissal is the first step in an obvious maneu- will have won in the course of clean, honest elections. I thank ver by Yeltsin to postpone the Duma elections. Aug. 9 was to you for your attention” (emphasis added). have been the day when Stepashin was to formally announce As one leading Russian military expert commented on Dec. 19 as the date of the elections. What Yeltsin said later Aug. 10, Yeltsin dumping Stepashin for Putin “makes no that day on TV could not mask the fact that an unconstitutional sense if he is interested in free and fair elections.” The coup had been launched. military source explained: “Declaring Putin as his appointed Yeltsin’s decision to sack Stepashin was made on Aug. 5, successor as President is a non-starter; it guarantees that when he informed Putin of his coming appointment as Prime Putin will get 1-2% of the vote.” This expert’s reading is, Minister. What triggered the decision, was the merger, in early August, of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s Otechestvo (Fatherland) Movement, with the All-Russia Movement, led by Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimaiyev, and which has the support of most of Russia’s 89 governors. Stepashin had LaRouche on Russia’s refused to take a hostile position against this powerful elec- toral alliance, and, in the interest of national reconciliation, ‘coup from above’ in 1998 had even put out feelers to it, thus angering Yeltsin. Signals were abundant in the Russian media in the days After an earlier palace coup in the Yeltsin entourage, Lyn- before Aug. 9, that a coup was brewing. The weekly Argu- don LaRouche wrote an article titled “Russia: A Coup menti i Fakti on Aug. 3 published a column, entitled “A Plot From Above,” published in EIR, April 3, 1998. Here are Against Stepashin,” saying that the Kremlin had demanded excerpts. that Stepashin take steps against Luzhkov and others, but that “Stepashin does not have the strength to do this,” and that On the morning of March 23, 1998, international news Yeltsin’s Chief of Staff, Aleksandr Voloshin, was pushing dispatches from Moscow featured the announcement of for Stepashin’s ouster. On Aug. 4, Interfax said that the cre- an ongoing purge of the Russian government of Prime ation of the new electoral alliance had “shattered” Stepashin’s Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, ordered by President position: “More and more often can the Presidential adminis- Boris Yeltsin. . . . Our task here, is to provide the reader tration be heard complaining that Stepashin proved weaker an appropriate insight into the strategic circumstances in than he seemed to be, and that by his desire not to quarrel with which this coup from above has occurred. . . . any of the current political and business figures, he demon- Coup in Russia? The historically literate mind recalls strates excessive flexibility.” The article named Putin as one images of the famous 1905 and 1917 revolutions. The first possible successor to Stepashin. of these was triggered by the combination of a London- On Aug. 6, Moscow Times, in an article entitled “The orchestrated, international financial crisis of 1905-1907, [Yeltsin] Family Has Few Legal Options Left,” stressed that and the impact of the Russo-Japanese War. The second, the new electoral alliance had further isolated Yeltsin, the was the reflection of economic disaster, combined with “family,” and allied tycoons including Boris Berezovsky and large, useless losses of peasant soldiers in the foolish con- Roman Abramovich. The paper warned that after the dis- tinuation of Russia’s hopeless war against Germany. In missal on Aug. 5 of Kommersant editor Shakirov (after the both cases, the confluence of a social and economic crisis, paper was taken over by Berezovsky), Stepashin could be intersected a general loss of confidence in the potential next. “Stepashin has reportedly disappointed his backers by usefulness of a discredited government. Given, a spectrum being too weak. Various names are being bandied about as of previously established nuclei of revolutionary political possible replacements, and some media have focussed on institutions, and a seemingly endless worsening of com- FSB Director —a tough customer who might bined social, economic, and political crises under the exist- be described as a Yuri Andropov for energetic young reform- ing government, mass-based revolutionary ferment was ers,” the article said. likely. Yeltsin’s Aug. 9 statement that the Duma elections will There are analogous leading features in Russia’s situa- proceed, does not mean very much. He said: “Esteemed citi- tion now. . . . zens of Russia, today I signed the decree on elections to the

56 International EIR August 20, 1999 that “elections are not on the table. They’re not an option precipitated. As the military expert said: “I’m expecting new for the kleptocracy at the top. The reality is, we’re going provocations. It wouldn’t surprise me if there is a decision into a revolution. There is mass support in Russia now for taken to bury Lenin this weekend, before the vote in the Duma a change in economic policy, but people hope it will come to confirm Putin. This would create the basis for dissolving through the ballot box. The people behind Yeltsin have Parliament and ruling by decree. It would create a confronta- something else in mind.” tion with the Communists and nationalists, who would be accused of destabilizing the country, and who would refuse A pretext for ‘rule by decree’ to confirm Putin. We would then hear the appeals for law and Yeltsin asked the State Duma to approve Putin as Prime order. I see more provocations, to destabilize the situation, Minister, at its scheduled Aug. 16 session, and Duma Speaker and then establish rule by decree in Russia.” Gennadi Seleznyov indicated that that would happen. This He stressed that “the Kremlin is desperate to keep power. would deprive Yeltsin of an immediate pretext to dissolve the Otherwise, they will lose their money and their freedom. Duma and rule by decree. Only if the Duma were to reject a They’re fighting for their damned lives and money.” Putin nomination three times could he dissolve the body. In his first speech to the cabinet as Acting Prime Minister, But, there are other ways in which the crisis could be Putin told them that they would keep their posts, but he used

Those sundry revolutionaries of those past periods, previously accomplished virtual “economic miracles,” un- from Marx through the social-democrats and Bolsheviks til the late 1960s, through investment in development of of 1917-1923, were victims of fundamental errors of as- infrastructure, and in energy- and capital-intense scientific sumption respecting the nature of man, history, and soci- and technological progress. Now, both are destroying ety. Those are not minor errors, but axiomatic errors, errors themselves with the same monetarist carpetbagging tricks otherwise described as “crucial,” or fundamental. . . . The of “mergers and acquisitions” which have looted the re- crucial errors in their understanding, we must reject; but mains of former Soviet national resources and capital im- they were not half as misguided, or ignorant, as those fool- provements of Russia. At present, this has gone almost to ish statesmen, who approach the present global situation the point that national extinction of Germany and the with the delusion that the immediate weeks and months U.S.A. is now already visible, on the horizon a few years ahead are not a revolutionary interval of history, in the ahead. strictest sense of that term. If Russia does not change suddenly, it is doomed, and This is most clearly relevant in face of the presently that very soon. If it attempts to change, without participa- onrushing revolutionary crisis in Russia today. It is crucial, tion in early agreement to the appropriate, revolutionary that President Clinton and his policy advisors (among oth- “New Bretton Woods” system, Russia might survive as a ers) recognize, that whatever comes out of the months national identity in the long run, but at the price of a terrible immediately before us, it will be a revolutionary change of sacrifice in the medium-term. . . . some kind. At this moment, the prospect of a revolutionary The coup from above will not succeed in even the change—of one sort, or another—inside Russia, is an relatively short-term. Symptomatic responses will not still agenda-item of high priority. . . . the mounting disquiet. The actual source of energy for the political instability, must be addressed, directly. The heart Russia’s intellectual crisis of the solution is to recognize the real enemy. Since he is This issue of the truth about the French Revolution, is bankrupt, in fact, we have but to put him through the obvi- an essential part of the key to solving Russia’s most crip- ous, sensible, liquidation in bankruptcy, by means of pling intellectual crisis: the fact, that it has yet to undertake which we may rid ourselves of that cause of our affliction, the needed scope and depth of rational review of the roots that parasite, once, and, hopefully, for all. for what is popularly identified by many as “the failure of Those changes are the choice of revolution which must Soviet Communism.” Under Gorbachev, Russia leaped, be made. If we fail to take that option, then we are doomed blindly, out of the ship of Soviet Communism, into the to other kinds of revolutions none of our nations were most radically decadent slum of so-called “western” econ- likely to survive. What we are seeing in the circumstances omy, and that with the combined zeal and awkwardness of behind Russia’s recent coup from above, is the shudder of a drunken sailor storming the bed of a common prostitute. leaves at the edge of the oncoming storm. That storm will One should not be astonished by the relevant result. devastate us all, unless we quench, very, very soon, the On the other side, we have national economies, such religious fervor of that present lunatic majority among the as those of the United States and Germany, which had policy-shaping set.

EIR August 20, 1999 International 57 Prince Philip is ‘hoist with his own petar’

Britain’s Royal Consort Prince Philip’s rac- ism is nothing new, of course, but it seems that some among the British elites have de- cided to make an issue of it, as the accompa- nying cartoon by Steve Bell, published in the Guardian newspaper on Aug. 13, vividly demonstrates. (From left to right, the carica- tures are of Conservative Party chairman William Hague, former Prime Minister John Major, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and His Royal Highness Prince Philip.) On Aug. 10, Buckingham Palace was forced to apologize for a racist remark made by Prince Philip. According to the London Times, “The Duke of Edinburgh made his fastest public apology yet yesterday, after he made an insulting joke during a factory tour. The Duke pointed at an old-fashioned fuse- box at the Racal-MESL factory near Edin- burgh and said it looked as if it had been ‘put in by an ment: “The Duke of Edinburgh regrets any offence which Indian.’ ” may have been caused by remarks he is reported making Within 2 hours and 14 minutes of Prince Philip’s state- earlier today. With hindsight he accepts that what were ment, Buckingham Palace issued the following announce- intended as lighthearted comments were inappropriate.”

the special police unit jargon, that “everyone stays put.” Con- “all Muslims” to help Dagestan get rid of Russian “occu- tinuing in a not so civil tone, he said, “Sergei Vladimirovich pants.” The insurgents, adding yet another provocation, called [Stepashin] and I are military servicemen, and we obey or- on Chechen terrorist to head up their “state.” ders.” Asked by journalists whether he would run for Presi- The first signs that the Putin government could use Dage- dent next year, Putin replied, “I will.” stan as the pretext for police measures in Russia proper, were visible on Aug. 10, when the Moscow police said that they Escalation in the Caucasus were beefing up security in the capital because of outbreaks The firing of Stepashin was closely linked with the inter- of violence in the North Caucasus. Police were also reported action of the Caucasus crisis and the Russian internal political to be taking control over key transportation and communica- situation. The first ten days of August have witnessed a grave tions centers, such as train stations. Putin, in his first statement escalation of the war in the Caucasus republic of Dagestan. on the Dagestan crisis, announced that he would restore “or- This was precipitated when bands of armed, British-con- der and discipline” to Dagestan. “We are facing the emer- trolled Wahhabite Islamic fanatics, of various ethnic origins, gence of mass terror on Russia’s southern border. . . . The including Chechen, Dagestani, Arab, and Afghan, entered situation in Dagestan will return to normal within a week and Dagestan from Chechen territory and took up positions in a half to two weeks,” he said. the mountains. No serious observer agrees with his assessment, because The question now is, how will the Dagestan crisis be ex- there there are up to 2,000 Wahhabites lodged in the remote ploited for unconstitutional moves in Russia as a whole. On mountainous areas of Dagestan. They have come under heavy the same day as the Yeltsin-Putin coup, the Wahhabite insur- bombardment from Russian artillery and helicopter gunships, gents made the following proclamation: “We, the Muslims of but even if, by some miracle, they were to be driven from Dagestan, officially declare the restoration of independence Dagestan within two weeks, they would simply fall back to to the Islamic state of Dagestan.” The declaration called on Chechen territory, regroup, and re-enter Dagestan.

58 International EIR August 20, 1999 Stepashin’s response to the crisis had been tough, but measured, although there were problems with combat profi- ciency in some Russian units. Through Aug. 7-8, Stepashin had reiterated his stance that, while Russia would proceed The southern with force to crush the Wahhabite armed groups, he would “not make the same mistake twice” and engage in indiscrimi- nate action against Chechnya. This was a clear reference to Eurasian potential his co-responsibility for the December 1994 decision to in- vade Chechnya. Stepashin was also sending a clear signal British monarchic interests are intent on destroying the grow- that he agreed with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, ing potential for the entire belt of southern Eurasia—extend- who had declared, correctly, that he and the Chechen govern- ing from the Balkans and extending through the Caucasus, ment had had nothing to do with the armed incursions the Caspian Sea region, and onward across the South Asian into Dagestan. Subcontinent into Southeast Asia—to become a beehive of In short, Stepashin’s inclination was to target what he cooperative infrastructure development. This potential was called “bandits” in remote mountainous areas, but to avoid highlighted in EIR’s January 1997 Special Report, “The Eur- another Chechen-type quagmire. For this reason, Stepashin asian Land-Bridge: The ‘New Silk Road’—Locomotive for was in Dagestan on Aug. 8, working with Gen. Anatoli Worldwide Economic Development.” Here we present ex- Kvashnin, Chief of the General Staff and Gen. Col. Ovchin- cerpts from that report. nikov, Commander of Russia’s Interior Troops, on how to proceed. Practically unnoticed by most Western commentators outside of LaRouche and EIR, the concept of reviving the old Silk Oil and NATO Road has become the focus of a profound strategic shift in the But, the Dagestan crisis has another dimension, of far relations among the nations of southern, central, and eastern greater strategic consequence. Dagestan is the Russian Feder- Asia. Although the process of reordering the strategic map of ation’s Caucasus republic through which Caspian Sea oil Eurasia was first set into motion by the collapse of the Soviet pipelines run. It is also the republic that links Russia to Azer- Union, the growing momentum toward regional cooperation baijan, which, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, has and development around a policy for a New Silk Road has so been an independent republic. far been centered on China and Iran. That policy is drawing In the words of one British specialist on the Caucasus, support from an ever larger circle of nations of the region— “The real prize is Azerbaijan.” He explained: “That’s where including Turkey, the Central Asian nations, Russia, Paki- the oil wealth is. If Dagestan falls to the rebels, Azerbaijan is stan, and India. The growing momentum behind the New Silk just over the border. The Lezgin ethnic group is on both sides Road land-bridge development policy opens the way toward of the Dagestan-Azeri border, and they could be expected gradually overcoming the countless conflicts and hot spots in to make their claims. There are various options that would this part of the world, and realizing the common economic become possible. What would happen, in any case, is that interests of the nations and peoples through concrete projects. Azerbaijan couldn’t defend itself, and it would call on NATO Above all, speed is of the utmost importance in realizing the for protection. If that happens, NATO will come in, in some promise of the New Silk Road: Concrete, positive develop- form, likely predominantly Turkish forces. [Azeri President] ments must be achieved as soon as possible, in order to reduce Heidar Aliyev has already asked for NATO help.” and finally eliminate the potentials for geopolitical manipula- Since the beginning of this year, Aliyev, a wholly owned tion and sabotage from the side of London and its allies. . . . British asset, and cohort of Al Gore, has openly asked NATO, The rail development, agreements, and mutual under- the United States, or Turkey, to establish military bases on standings between Iran and Turkey, with the encouragement its soil. Although no firm plans have been announced, U.S. of China and some other states, point to a potentially very Defense Secretary William Cohen, during a recent visit to far-reaching shift from an earlier, aggressive competition for neighboring Georgia, reiterated NATO’s willingness to allow influence in Central Asia and elsewhere, toward a consensus such Caucasus republics to join the alliance. Such an exten- in favor of long-term cooperation. Numerous transport and sion of NATO, Moscow has made known, constitutes a “red energy projects are on the table, or have already been line” which dare not be crossed. launched, reaching out from Iran eastward to Pakistan and Were this insane option to be pursued, by British geopolit- India (see below), and northward through the Caucasus and ical maniacs of the likes of Zbigniew Brzezinski, there is no Central Asia to Russia. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar doubt that Russia would perceive a NATO move as a threat Velayati provided the following interesting formulation of to the existence of Russia itself. As Lyndon LaRouche warned his government’s policy: “We cannot have a peaceful country in a campaign statement on Aug. 12, this could become the in a region plagued by instability, and we cannot have a rich trigger for thermonuclear confrontation. country in a region of poverty.”

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